November is Movember Month – Men’s Mental Health Awareness

Poor mental health affects men and boys of all ages across the community and means that they cannotlive their lives to the full. Even worse, too many men try to remain ‘strong and in control’, feeling that asking for help is unmanly and weak. Connecting with friends and family helps to protect men from poor mental health and suicide when the tough times come but too often men feel that they can’t share their problems. This contributes to the high suicide rate among men, with approximately three quarters of all deaths by suicide being men.

To give men and boys the best chance of a happier, healthier and longer life, the Movember Foundationis working to determine how to improve the social networks of men and implement the findings. They are helping to develop better strategies so that men have the support they need to address their mental health problems, rather than trying to go it alone. This involves finding ways to encourage men to talk about significant life events and their mental health at work or on the sports field or watching a game.The Movember Foundation is also actively involved in calling out language that makes it harder for men to discuss their problems with friends. Whilst we are working with men and boys across the community, including our Mo Bros, we are putting a particular focus on men from harder to reach populations groups who have a higher rate of poor mental health and suicide. Through working closely with these groups, the Movember Foundation has the biggest opportunity to have an everlasting impact on men’s health.

Seventy-five percent of suicides are committed by men. On a global level, a man kills himself every minute.